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News

23.09.2017

This robotic glove will give you bionic hands

A startup called Nuada has developed a soft, robotic glove that gives people with hand pain or weakness a strong grip.

According to co-founders Filipe Quinaz and Vitor Crespo, the glove contains a "mesh" of artificial tendons and sensors. These are controlled by an electromechanical system contained in a smartwatch-like device worn on the same hand.

A user activates the glove by lightly flexing their wrist. The glove then understands that they want an assist, and can help them with any movement. Typically, users will employ the glove to pick up, maneuver or hold a heavy object whether that's a bag of groceries or a car battery.

A more advanced (and expensive) version of the Nuada glove can predict the wearer's movement and assist them automatically. The advanced version also work with a mobile app that gathers data about their hand's activity. A physical therapist, for example, could review the data and help the wearer to become more ergonomically healthy.

Nuada began with the idea of creating a medical-grade prosthetic, Quinaz told CNBC. But the company decided to develop more of a generally helpful tool after hearing tremendous demand from employers whose staff do a lot of manual labor, and seniors with weakness in their hands.

Hand injuries befell more than 140,000 workers in the U.S. alone in 2015, according to the most recent available data from the U.S. Department of Labor. And repetitive, physical tasks at work—whether you're a camera operator, EMT or waiter – can cause fatigue and pain even in healthy workers. Meanwhile, arthritis of the hand effects tens of millions in the U.S. alone.

Based in Braga, Portugal, the company is currently testing its robo-gloves with large employers there, including a Volkswagen factory and the retail conglomerate Sonae. The company has raised seed funding from the hardware accelerator HAX and its affiliated venture firm SOSV.

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About us

Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.

The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.

The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.

A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.

The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.

An annual congress"The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.

Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society

2015-2020

The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc. Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.

2020-2025

Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.

2030-2035

Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.

2045

This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.

Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.

Key elements of the project in the future

• International social movement • social network immortal.me • charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045) • scientific research centre "Immortality" • business incubator • University of "Immortality" • annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.